Random Tyre Discussions

[Anonymous]

Hi, A new member!!
Got my Roadster January this year (02 Ver) - love it dearly. Tyres are Vredstein Sportrac 2. I never seem to hear any comment from club members re these?, They do me fine, in the wet they step out a bit on sharp turns with power on but alway come back in line with a twitch of the wheel. Love to hear comments.

Thanks, David.

[ChrisGB]

Now they're on the car they flex quite a bit compared to RE040s and I can see them needing to be run about 3psi higher than stock.

On the Fabia they were a lot stiffer than the Toyo T1R in the sidewall department.

Chris

[Anonymous]

That's interesting, Chris  s:) s:)

Update:

Set pressures to 29 and 35psi for the 37 mile commute home. Obviously there's the wax coat to scrub off and they need to bed in, but until the tyres warmed up quick lane changes on the A14 felt a bit weird - like you could feel the springyness in the sidewall releasing stored energy when straightening the car up.

Once off the motorways, the tyres felt a bit better - springyness reduced and reasonable turn-in response.

I'll keep the pressures as they are for a few more hundred miles and then experiment.

[t-bone]

for the application of daily driving and a more then occasional spirited drive the Toyo T1R is difficult to beat. I am going to be on my 4th season on my current set 23K and they still have another 6-7K in them based on tread depth.

I have 185/55/15 and 215/40/16 sizes. Softer then stone 040 they are better for daily driving. They feel less set then the 040s in the curves but I believe they grip better dry and certainly more so when wet. In expensive, durable and can handle the fun. Not a track tire but a great daily driver.

I note that below 50F they get a bit loose and I have never taken my car out in snow or even below freezing conditions.

[Orimental]

I've been using Toyo T1-R's for the last 2.5 years and they have been excellent.  They've not got particularly stiff sidewalls (relative so Bridgestone RE040's) but the wet weather grip makes up for that.  I've always sworn by Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3's and whilst the Toyos aren't quite as good are as close as you can get without shelling out £100/corner.

I've been running 185/55/15 and 225/40/16 on my 2003 MR2 and the fronts have lasted about 30k whilst the rears about 15k.

I've only just changed my fronts and the Toyos seem to have gone up a fair bit since my last purchase (£67ea) so I've now gone for 190/50/15's, which make the fronts 1.6% faster but are only costing me £50 a corner from Black Circles.

Due to the change in profile the fronts are slightly wider.  I started on 26psi and this seemed slightly too soft and the cornering suffered.  I've now pumped them up to 28psi and they feel noticeably harder but handling has much improved.  I'm going to give 27psi a go and am guessing that will give me a good compromise between handling and comfort.

[Capvermell]

Another set of Toyo's on mine. Utterly confidence inspiring in wet and dry, they're a soft tyre so they function well even on a frosty morning. 28psi front and 36psi rear seems perfect for me. They do squirm a bit due to the softer sidewalls but once you get used to the feeling of the car settling into a corner then you don't even notice it.
Way more performance than you ought to expect given the price and having read other's reviews they seem like a perfect match for the MR2.

Any reason for increasing the standard manufacturer pressures for a pre facelift model?  Don't you find the car lacks grip round corners, especially with the rear pressure set this high?

I very recently got another pair of 205/50 x 15 T1-RS for the back recently purely because the fronts are much newer and I calculate the front and backs should all wear out at around the same time with this set (if I don't have any punctures etc which I have only had one of in 9 years on the Roadster compared to about three in four years on my MGF VVC with Toyo T1-S' tyres of the same sizes as the MR2).

Although the Toyos have been good up to now (they are miles better than the stock Yokohama A043 tyres that came with the car when new as I can only describe the Yokos as being completely lethal in snow and ice covered road driving conditions while the Toyos are pretty of if you take care on snowy or icy roads) I plan to switch to the new Hankook V12 Evos when I get my next full set of tyres.

[Anonymous]

Another set of Toyo's on mine. Utterly confidence inspiring in wet and dry, they're a soft tyre so they function well even on a frosty morning. 28psi front and 36psi rear seems perfect for me. They do squirm a bit due to the softer sidewalls but once you get used to the feeling of the car settling into a corner then you don't even notice it.
Way more performance than you ought to expect given the price and having read other's reviews they seem like a perfect match for the MR2.

Any reason for increasing the standard manufacturer pressures for a pre facelift model?  Don't you find the car lacks grip round corners, especially with the rear pressure set this high?

I very recently got another pair of 205/50 x 15 T1-RS for the back recently purely because the fronts are much newer and I calculate the front and backs should all wear out at around the same time with this set (if I don't have any punctures etc which I have only had one of in 9 years on the Roadster compared to about three in four years on my MGF VVC with Toyo T1-S' tyres of the same sizes as the MR2).

Although the Toyos have been good up to now (they are miles better than the stock Yokohama A043 tyres that came with the car when new as I can only describe the Yokos as being completely lethal in snow and ice covered road driving conditions while the Toyos are pretty of if you take care on snowy or icy roads) I plan to switch to the new Hankook V12 Evos when I get my next full set of tyres.

Toyo tyres have been noted to have a softer sidewall so an increase in pressure is to help reduce tyre roll. put it in the search and you will find out more.

[Capvermell]

Toyo tyres have been noted to have a softer sidewall so an increase in pressure is to help reduce tyre roll. put it in the search and you will find out more.

What if I already have the harder and shorter Toyota TTE suspension springs kit on the car?  Perhaps making my tyres that hard won't then make as much sense?

I can give it a go for a while in my current quest for higher fuel consumption but I would expect a harder ride and less good grip in cornering.

[Chris H]

Would be interested to know what sort of mileage  you guys are getting
out of the  various tyre's you all seem to be running, especially on the rears.....   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

[leffex]

Would be interested to know what sort of mileage  you guys are getting
out of the  various tyre's you all seem to be running, especially on the rears.....   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

To add this to the forum...

Smaller width of the wheels doesnt cut fuel economy. Even though you think it might lower cd. it wont lower rooling resistance.

The rooling resistance gain is more than that from wind resistance

Load capacity makes for "rounder tire" which then concludes into this

The patch, the area that is in touch with the ground should be as big as possible which equals to lesser pressure on each squere inch.

Lesser pressure means that the tire are more "round", in other words less rolling resistance.

Finally the importance of correct inflated tires. (as 8 of 10 car drivers have to little air in the tires this adds to the importance of "rounder tire" for increased mpg as well as the tire patch in direct contact with the asphalt.)

Other  facts
Thread wear, energy saver wheels is best with threa wear value of around 400, 0048s or toyos are about 200
I would think that a higher load capacity tires would give a rounder tire so going to buy that to my peg-car.

example, load capacity of a 195x50/R15 82T, has a lower load capacity than the same with the ending 92T, the letter is the speed mark.

[Stephster]

I used to run Yoko stock all round as they came with the car, but when the backs recently wore out went for Toyos all round. Main reason being that they no longer do the Yoko A043 and I wanted the same tyres all round.
Steering was a bit light at first and there was a distinct roll, BUT when I checked the tyre fitters had not put the pressures in  that I had asked for ( 36/26 as recommended by this forum ), and they were way lower and mismatched. Once I sorted that everything was fine. Saying that, I can't really talk about hard driving, as I tend to drive a bit more sedately than a lot of other people on this forum that I know  s;) s;) .

[graham read]

Just had a new set of TOYO PROXES T1-R , NOT had any Sprited driving yet but the car feel's well planted , so many tyres to choose from, can reccomend the garage where they supplied and fitted EMPRESS MOTORS ACCRINGTON  , WHEN THIS LITTLE MONSOON PASSES WILL TRY OUT THE NEW TYRES HOPE TO SEE LOTS OF PEEPS AT THE DING DAY .

[Capvermell]

BUT when I checked the tyre fitters had not put the pressures in  that I had asked for ( 36/26 as recommended by this forum )

28 at the front and 36 at the back are the pressure I have seen recommended for T1-Rs running the standard pre facelift sizes of 185/155 x 15 and 205/50 x 15.  Running those pressures now after many years of ignorance (when I was running 26 at the front and 29 at the back) seems to have greatly improved the handling.

The Yoko A043s were only any good on a dry road and were poor in wet weather and completely lethal in snow and ice in my experience.  The T1-Rs are much better in both the wet and with ice and snow conditions.

Presumably someone at Toyota wrongly thought that due to the car's impracticality for carrying luggage etc that it would only ever be driven on dry, warm and sunny summer days.  Otherwise why they would have specced the Yoko A043s as OEM equipment?

I'm personally still itching to try a set of Hankook V12 Evos on my car and see how these compared with the Toyos.

[Emleytvr]

I have Toyo T1R's all round, they were on the car when I got it with plenty of tread, I have OEM wheels for facelift car but I find them pretty poor tbh asides from what everyone else says.
  s:( s:(

Seconded

See above

[Capvermell]

Has nobody here yet tried a set of the new Hankook V12 Evos in either pre or post facelift stock car tyre sizes.  This on paper looks to be an extremely good tyre at an extremely reasonable price.  I nearly put a set on my car in December when my two back tyres were worn out but as I had one near new front T1-R and one only one third worn front T1-R I went for two more back T1-Rs reasoning that the front and backs would then be all worn out at the same time when the next set was required. (front tyres wear at only about 60% of the rate of the back tyres in my experience).

For anyone with a pre facelift car with standard wheels a major point to consider about the T1-R is that Toyo will be phasing it out out over the next two years and replacing it with a newer high performance tyre for which the smallest wheel size will be 16 inches. In 15 inch size tyres and below they will only then be offering lower performance tyres.  This is a result of performance cars having increased their standard wheel sizes over the years as with the post facelift MR2 Roadster.  As Hankook will still be making the V12 Evo in pre-facelift 15 inch sizes this is why members of this forum surely will begin to start using it at that stage?

[chris3boro]

When it comes to new tyres on a standard car (pre facelift) is it best to stick to the original sizes? Pre facelift cars are 185/55/15 front and 205/50/15 rear, is it best to stick to these or go wider/lower profile etc (whilst keeping original wheels on)?

[Capvermell]

You might want to try a nitrogen fill.

I had a full set put on last month & was told that a nitrogen fill would make a difference, running with 36 psi rear & 28 psi in the front and they are pretty good.

My mother was offered a nitrogen fill with free further top ups totally free of charge the last time she bought a pair of tyres for her car.  The tyre prices were also some of the most competitive anywhere for that tyre so she didn't appear to pay anything extra for the nitrogen fill service.  They also converted the two tyres that weren't worn out to nitrogen fill as well.

More on the advantages of this at  m http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/ho ... ns/4302788 m

[Wabbitkilla]

Hi, opinion varies about the tyres ... but they're all better than what you currently have fitted.
Toyo's are great, GSD3's are fab, no experience of the Falkens ... but always been tempted by them.

Considering your wheels are 7" then you are probably slipping outside of manufacturers specs fitting 225 tyres, but probably do-able.
The other sizes look good to me.

When selecting tyres I usually use a tyre calculator, it helps you get your rolling radius (or diameter) as close as possible to the original tyres. The 35 profile is a bit below the standard diameter so will help acceleration, but the low profile may not be that comfortable and could also cause a bit of quicker break-away as the walls have less to flex. Ideally though I would have preferred to go for that size for my car, and I have 7" rims all-round... I don't know if I could have lived with it though   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  and my front wheels are 16" so I couldn't get the 452's in a suitable size for the front   s:? :? s:?  

For me, Toyo's or GSD3's are probably the best choices depending upon what you want to spend, you won't regret either of them imho.

[chris3boro]

Help please.

Toyo T1R users...

How much tread do you have left on the EDGES of the tyre? I mean the bit that is just slits on either edges not the main agressive tread pattern. Im not sure if my 2 is wearing the outer edges or if the toyos have fairly shallow edges compared to the main tread. Also, the law is for 1.6mm or more across the main 3/4 of the tread, on the t1r's would you say the edges on wither side are outside of this 3/4 limit, therefore the 1.6mm rule doesnt apply?

Thanks!

[chris3boro]

^bump, please

[Wabbitkilla]

[MOD]Random discussions split off from the database. [/MOD]

[Wabbitkilla]

Help please.

Toyo T1R users...

How much tread do you have left on the EDGES of the tyre? I mean the bit that is just slits on either edges not the main agressive tread pattern. I'm not sure if my 2 is wearing the outer edges or if the toyos have fairly shallow edges compared to the main tread. Also, the law is for 1.6mm or more across the main 3/4 of the tread, on the t1r's would you say the edges on wither side are outside of this 3/4 limit, therefore the 1.6mm rule doesnt apply?

Thanks!

Yes, I seem to remember the outside of the Toyos does wear on the fronts, I never really had a problem with it though.

[nathanMR2]

Yeah mine are going the same way although they have been on the car for a while and had some reasonably serious abuse! What size and pressures are you running?

[chris3boro]

(thanks for merging Nic)

Thanks for replies. Standard pre facelift 185/55/15 front, 205/50/15 rear, T1Rs all round, 28 psi front, 36 psi rear.

You see before I thought i needed the alignment sorting but as the tyres are 6 years old it may just be from time etc plus the fact these tyres seem to wear a lot on the edges anyway, if that makes sense.

[Wabbitkilla]

I believe I've said this before but any tyre 6 years old is fit for nothing but plant pots.